Tennessee basketball: Addition of Tyreke Key makes Vols elite three-point shooting team

It’s still not clear exactly what the backcourt will look like for Tennessee basketball next year. Kennedy Chandler is gone to the NBA, but Santiago Vescovi is up in the air as he is testing the draft waters. A recent move, though, should make the Vols dominant from three next year.

Indiana State Sycamores transfer guard Tyreke Key has committed to Rocky Top. Key is a graduate transfer with one year left of eligibility. He missed all of last year due to shoulder surgery, but he averaged over 15 points each of the three previous years.

A native of Celina, Tenn., who attended Clay County High School, this is a bit of a homecoming for Key. At 6’3″ 205 pounds, the two-time first team All-Missouri Valley Conference player announced his decision to join Tennessee basketball on Twitter.

Assuming Vescovi comes back, UT just upgraded its shooting in a big way. Even with the losses of Chandler and Victor Bailey Jr., Vescovi and Key could make the Vols deadly from outside. For his career, Key shoots 37.4 from three and makes nearly one and a half a game.

Now, in his most recent season, he did shoot just 31.6 percent from three, but that was the odd COVID year, and he was already battling his shoulder injury at that point. The year before that, he shot 38.9 percent from three and hit nearly two a game.

With those two and then Justin Powell, Tennessee basketball could be unstoppable from outside. Powell and Vescovi are better at shooting the three than anything else, and when fully healthy, Key has shown the same ability.

As far as managing the point, Zakai Zeigler can obviously handle that with Chandler gone. Also, B.J. Edwards, the sole commitment in the Vols’ 2022 class, should be able to man the role. Taking that into account, UT is set at the point.

Meanwhile, Josiah-Jordan James has been solid from three in the past and showed he’s capable of getting red-hot from there at times. If he can get more consistent shooting the ball, Rick Barnes will be able to go two-deep at every position in the backcourt with four elite shooters.

One other asset Key brings that was a weakness with Chandler is free throw shooting. He’s over 80 percent for his career and was right around 84 percent in his two most recent seasons. He’s also an elite rebounder for his size, averaging nearly four and a half for his career and over five his most recent season.

Simply put, assuming he can fully recover from his shoulder injury, Key turns the Vols into an extremely dangerous team from the outside. They got a taste of being that way this past year under Barnes, but this could become the best three-point shooting team he’s ever had.

If the inside game can step up, which includes Olivier Nkamhoua getting fully healthy, Uros Plavsic continuing to develop and Jonas Aidoo taking a major step forward, Barnes may have the best inside-out game he’s ever had next year. Key’s commitment is that big of a deal for Tennessee basketball, so watch out.